China Manufacturing After a Crowdfunding Campaign
1 resources tagged with "Crowdfunding"
A funded crowdfunding campaign is where hardware reality begins: the gap between a working prototype and 5,000+ shippable units is months of tooling, DFM revisions, pilot runs, and certification that most founders underestimate. Injection-mold tooling alone runs several weeks and thousands of dollars, and certification (FCC/CE plus UN 38.3 if there's a battery) has to finish before you can legally ship to backers. The classic mistake is promising a delivery date based on the prototype timeline, then losing two to three months to first-article inspection and rework.
When you move from crowdfunding to production, the milestones are prototype, DFM review, tooling, pilot/first-article run, certification, and mass production — each gated by approval before the next starts. The common pitfall is paying for full tooling before a DFM review, then re-cutting molds after the first samples reveal problems.
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FAQ
How long does it take to go from prototype to 5,000 units?
Plan for several months: tooling and DFM revisions take weeks, certification adds 4-8 weeks (often in parallel), and a pilot run plus mass production follow. Building schedule buffer for first-article rework is the difference between hitting and missing backer dates.
What's the biggest mistake hardware founders make after crowdfunding?
Promising delivery dates based on the prototype timeline, which ignores tooling, first-article inspection, and certification. The second is skipping a DFM review before cutting molds, which leads to expensive re-tooling.
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